A Big Stake. A novel

Front matter

i ■ ■ H IRovel. BY MRS. ROBERT JOCELYN, AUTHOR OF "THE M. F. H.'s DAUGHTER," "THE CRITON HUNT MYSTERY," •' £ 100,000 VERSUS GHOSTS," " A DISTRACTING GUEST," "DRAWN BLANK," ETC. " Disasters, do the best we can, Will reach both great and small, And he is oft the wisest man Who is not wise at all." — Southwell. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON : F. V. WHITE & CO., 31, SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND, W.C 1892. riUNTED BY KELLY AND CO. LIMITED, GATE STUE'ET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 'W.C. AND MIDDLE MILL, KINGSTON-ON-THAMES. CONTENTS. CUAP. PAGE I. — An Unwelcome Visitou . . . 1 II. — Another Cobweb . . . . 17 III.— "I Hate Him" 34 IV. — Why Valda Had Been Annoyed . 54 V. — A Satisfactory Conclusion . . 67 VI. — A Clever Woman .... 89 VII.— How Aline Kept Hek Work . .123 VIII. — Conflicting Emotions . . 154 IX — An Unsuspected Reason . . . 174 X. — In Want of a Friend . . . 192 XL— What To Do 221 XII.— An Honest Man ... A BIG STAKE A B IG STAKE.

Chapter I. An Unwelcome Visitoe

" Oft expectation fails, and most oft there Where most it promises." — Shakespeare. " I say Valda, this is jolly, isn't it ? I wish to goodness you spent more time up here and less down in the drawing-room." The speaker was a remarkably good looking, fair-haired little boy. He was sitting on the edge of the large table which stood in the middle of the Marsdeane school-room, swinging a pair of strong, sturdy little legs slowly to and fro ; his name was Richard Warren, and it was his seventh birthdav. VOL. II. He was as nice a little chap, take him altogether, as you could have found any where in Mudshire ; and if Fate had dealt a little hardly towards him in so much as he was not his father's heir, she had certainly been rather out-of-the-way kind to him in other ways. A nicer, sunnier-dispositioned1 little fellow never lived than Valda's little half-brother ; and he had plenty of brains in that handsome little head of his.

That beyond gushing over him, his mother did not do very much for him is certain ; but then his sister and old Mary Just simply worshipped him, and the latter did her very best to spoil him. The old servants about the place one and all were devoted to Master Dick, and as the place itself was one in which any child could hardly have failed to find endless amusement and pleasure, it need scarcely be said that Master Dick on the whole was not very much to be pitied. " I dt) not think I spend very much time in the drawing-room, Dick," replied Valda, who was sitting on the hearthrug with her head on old Miss Just's knee. She looked very comfortable sitting there, and a very different expression was on her face to that which had been upon it that evening a few days ago when she had, for the first time, told her young step mother that her life under her management was not quite all she would like it to be, and that she was not disposed to play the part of a mere puppet in her hands.

She had looked a woman then, as she had stood there facing Aline, and a woman capable of holding her own. Now she IS* looked just the child which in years she was and ought to be. " Oh, yes, you do. A lot ! Don't she, Justy ? We hardly ever see you here now, and I call it a beastly shame," asserted Master Dick, in a very positive tone, and with an air of some authority. " Not beastly, Dick. We agreed that that is not a pretty word," put in Justy, mildly. " I forgot," murmured the boy apolo getically. " You see it does express one's feelings so awfully well." " Not awfully," again suggested old Miss Just, but she smiled as she said it, and almost before she had done speaking, the boy had flung his arms round her neck, knocked her cap on one side of her head, and succeeded in half-strangling her.

" Now don't be like that, Justy ! You are just horrid when you are ! " he pleaded coaxingly. " I do hate you when you look so solemn, and won't let a fellow speak." " There, pax, pax, Dick. That wall do," exclaimed his sister, drawing him towards her as she spoke. He sat down submissively beside her. In truth he was a most amiable and obedient child, only a little high-spirited, as all healthy children ought to be. "It is awfully jolly though, really, when Mamma has got a bad headache," he per sisted, going back to the point from which he had started, as children so often do. " I cannot see that it is so very jolly for poor mamma," replied his sister quietly. " You ought not to be so thoughtless, Dick. I am sure you are sorry for mamma, and I do not like to hear you speak like that." A BIG STAKE.

The child tried to look grave. He did feel rather ashamed of himself for a moment ; then a bright idea struck him. " But why should I be sorry, Valda ? Mamma does like having headaches. I heard Hutton say so this afternoon. She likes staying in bed and making Hutton run about and read to her." Valda looked up and met Miss Just's glance. " That is nonsense, Dick," she said quietly. " Nobody likes to have a headache. You have misunderstood what Hutton said." "No, I didn't," replied he positively. " Only she was as cross as two sticks, so I don't expect she meant it. And of course I'm sorry for mamma if she does not like having a headache ; only it is so jolly having you here for tea to-night, and that's what I mean, you know." " I know what you mean very well, dear," said his sister, drawing him closer to her side and kissing him.

"And if it were not for poor mamma's headache, I should think it just as nice as you do. I do like having tea up here with Justy and you. And I tell you wdiat, Dick, we will make some toffy after tea. That fire will be just the thing for it by then." " Yes, yes ! " agreed he, with much eagerness. " We will, Valda ! It is ever so long since we made that last lot ; and we burnt that, you know, and it was so nasty that Justy would not eat any of it." Old Mary Just laughed, and so did Valda ; and all three of them seemed very happy and contented. A BIG STAKE. The lamp had not yet been brought in, and the warm firelight alone fit up the scene ; and it fell on the figure of the young girl and the little boy who sat so near it, and the white haired old lady in the background. And they looked such a homely, loving, little party, that one would quite have liked to join them ; so it seemed a pity that they should be disturbed, as they were a moment or two later on, by the appearance of Johnson's portly figure in the doorway.

" Oh, bother ! " exclaimed Dick, who was the first to see him. "Bother! I'll bet sixpence he wants you, Vai." By this time Johnson had crossed the room. He now stood close beside them. " Captain Atherley is in the drawing room, m — m," he said, addressing Valda. "Bother! Bother ! Both— er!" ex claimed Dick. "1 saj', Johnson, just go down and tell him we are all out and won't be home until to-morrow." "Hush, Dick, hush," murmured Miss Just reprovingly. But there was a smile on Johnson's face, for Johnson, being a very old servant, considered himself pri vileged to smile sometimes when there were no strangers present. " Very well," agreed Dick. " Only you go down and tell him that, Johnson ; and if he asks you who told you to say it, you may say that I did." " Nonsense, Dick," said his sister quietly, and without entering into the joke as she might have been expected to do.

Then, addressing Johnson, " Did you tell Captain Atherley that Mrs. Warren is not able to see visitors to day?" " Yes, miss. He asked for you, miss, and I said I beheved that you were in," replied the old man, in a confidential tone. And then he stood waiting, as if ex pecting to be told to go and say that Miss Warren wras not at home. But Miss Warren, instead of giving that order, rose slowly to her feet. " Very well, Johnson. I will see Captain Atherley," she said quietly. " I see it is just five o'clock ; but unless I ring for it you need not bring tea into the drawdng-room. I do not suppose Captain Atherley will stay to have tea." Mary Just never looked up once. She was knitting and her eyes wrere fixed upon her work. Johnson disappeared ; rather wondering in his own mind at the inhos pitality displayed by a young lady who was not given to being inhospitable ; but nevertheless mentally commending her for it, because he himself resented Captain Atherley 's position in the house.

He had been devoted to the Squire ; and looking upon Captain Atherley as the admirer, and probably the future husband, of the Squire's widow, Johnson had long ago begun to look upon his visits with sus picion. And what was more natural than that Miss Warren should resent his visits also ? Johnson felt very glad that she should thus have an opportunity of showing him that she did not appreciate them. He was glad that Captain Atherley had called at tea time, and that Miss Warren did not intend to offer him any tea. He had tea at the Manor House far too often ; and it was high time that somebody should let him know it. As soon as Johnson had departed, Valda turned and spoke to Mary Just. " Of course he will expect to have tea here, Justy," she said quietly. "And equally of course we cannot send Mrs. Warren's cousin away without giving him some.

It will spoil our proposed tea-party, I know, but, if you do not mind, I will ask Captain Atherley to join it." " Do as you think best," replied the old lady quietly. " Yes, dear, that is the best thing to be done." " I'll be shot if it is ! " exclaimed Master Dick. "Just you tell him that mamma's head is aching awfully, and that we are all far too unhappy about it to care to have any tea, and that the best thing he can do is to go away as quietly as ever he can." Valda smiled. "You are naughty, Dick," she said. " You really are." " No, I am not, Valda. We all hate Captain Atherley — except mamma, I mean. And it's a bother that he should come here just this one day when we were going to have such fun." " Nonsense, Dick. You know you do not hate Captain Atherley at all." " Yes, I do. I do hate him, Valda.

I hate him," exclaimed the child vehemently. It was his old governess who laid a firm hand on his sturdy young shoulder. " It is very wrong to hate anybody, my boy," she said quietly. " And Captain Atherley has never done anything to make you hate him." " That's all very fine, Justy. But you tell me you don't dislike him yourself, before I'll say I'm sorry," was the wholly unexpected reply. By this time, Valda had left the room. Dick and his old governess were alone. Now as it happened Dick's remark had placed the old lady in a verjr awkward position. For it is certain that people who wish to teach children the wray they ought to go, ought to do so by example, quite as much as precept. How it was that the boy had arrived at the truth of a matter, which, until that moment, had not been known to Mary Just herself, it is hard to say, saving the fact that Master Dick was as sharp as a needle, and when children are sharp they are often sharper than their elders.

Be that as it may, Mary Just did dislike Captain Atherley. She was a woman of strong feelings, and she had it in her nature to either like or dislike, but to seldom take any middle course. She worshipped Dick, idolized Valda, loathed the very sight of Mrs. Warren, and yes, now she came to analyze her feelings, she discovered that Dick wras right. For some reason, known only to herself, beyond all doubt she did dislike Captain AtherlejT. The hand on the boy's shoulder shook a little, and Mary Just's honest, faded blue eyes did not meet the glance of his. "My dear little boy, what has Captain Atherley ever done to make me dislike him ? " she enquired evasively ; for it was not in the old lady's nature to tell a direct lie, however white and apparently excus able the lie might be. A BIG STAKE.

For a minute Dick was silent. He could not remember anything objectionable that Captain Atherley had ever done. " Valda hates him," he remarked, at last, in a that-settles-the-question tone of voice. " That's enough, isn't it ? " " Yes," agreed Miss Just slowly. " That might be enough to make us dislike him. But j-ou are wrong, Dick. I am sure Valda is far too good and kind to hate anyone." " Oh, is she, Justy ? I know better. I know she hates Captain Atherley like poison," was the decidedly givpn reply. Mary Just said nothing. She would have given much to have shared the boy's con viction. Had she been able to do so she would no longer have herself disliked so much an apparently unoffending, harmless gentleman.

Chapter II. Another Cobweb

" And Richard gets scolded for Rohert's offences." — Ingoldsby Legends. " Captain Atherley," said Valda, in a low, distinct tone. She had entered the room a few seconds previously, and was now standing in the middle of it. The man, whom she had been summoned downstairs to see, was standing by the big west window, with his back to the room, and thus had been un aware of her approach. In another second he stood facing her, and for a moment her little slender hand was clasped in his. 19 VOL. A BIG STAKE. For a short time neither of them spoke. She was waiting to hear wrhat explanation he had to offer for thus intruding upon her ; and as to him he could not have spoken just then if he had tried. At last he had an opportunity of seeing her alone ; it was a thing he had been vainly trying to do for several months ; and perhaps partly because it had been in vain, it had become a matter of exceeding im portance to him.

He had made hundreds of good resolu tions during the last few months, and had reminded himself dozens of times that he was a poor man and that she was an heiress. He had told himself often that he could never ask her to be his wife. And in the end he had found he would never have a moment's peace until he had put it to the test to win or lose that which had become dearer to him than anything else in the world. And she ? She had been politely civil, coldly distant, and apparently quite un aware of the tumult she had unwittingly raised. Bewitchingly graceful and charming in everything she did, without knowing it, Valda, by her very coldness, had but added fuel to the sire which she had done her utmost to extinguish. She knew that she had failed in her attempt to repel. She knew that this man to whom Aline was engaged was not true to Aline.

Somehow know these things ; be quick or slow, wise or know. women always do they young or old, foolish, they always And the worst of it was that, intermingled with the pain and disgust which 19* this knowledge caused her, there was another feeling, which gave her pain also ; a deeper, more unendurable pain. And she could not understand why this should be so, because she was true herself, and knew herself to be true. She made it difficult now for him to speak, as she stood there in the middle of the room, not offering to sit down or showing any sign of asking him to do so. She knew that he meant to say something that it would be wiser for him to leave unsaid, and she wished to prevent him doing so if it were possible. But it is sometimes impossible for a really beautiful woman to do a thing which to a plainer one would be an easy matter ; and Valda Warren had never looked more beautiful than she did just then.

The expression on her face lacked its habitual sweetness and sunshine, it is true, and was distinctly cold ; but in her very coldness she gained a certain stateliness and dignity of manner, which but added to that, at all times, strikingly regal mien of hers. It was she who spoke at last, after the silence had lasted long enough to make itself felt. She knew that it was more prudent to break it. There was something unusual, and therefore a little dangerous, in it. " I am sorry to say that Aline has a headache to-day," she remarked, a little stiffly. " She is not able to come down." " So I was told," he replied ; and his tone shook in a manner new to her ear. He was feeling nervous and agitated, and was unable to hide it from her. " But I wanted to see you particularly, Miss Warren. I hope you will forgive me for asking you to give me a few minutes.

I wanted to see you so much, alone." Very quietly she sat down on an un comfortable-looking, high-backed chair, close to a big table which stood near her. " Yes ? " she said, in a suspiciously in different tone. And then, having given him to understand that he might sit down also, she waited with a placidly expectant expression on her face for him to speak. Nothing could possibly have made it more difficult for him to do so than the attitude she had chosen to adopt. " Yes ? " she repeated, after a few long seconds, during which he had apparently been deeply absorbed in thought. He looked up and met her glance. " I have been unfortunate enough to annoy you in some way, Miss Warren," he said, in a steady, thoughtful tone. " Indeed, no," was the calmly given reply. He slowly shook his head. " But I know that it is so," he said quietly.

She turned her head and looked straight into his eyes. " If you believe that, in spite of my assurance to the contrary, Captain Atherley, you must be conscious of having done something likely to annoy me," she replied, so quietly and with so much dignity, that a sudden flush rose up into his dark, sunburnt face, and he looked away. " That is a very severe remark, Miss Warren," he said, rather stiffly. " And may I be permitted to add, unjust. It was to ask j'ou in what way I had erred, that I wished so particularly to speak to you alone." " I do not see why you could not have asked me when just as wrell wdien Aline was present," was the quiet reply. He made an impatient movement. "Cannot you see? She would not understand," he exclaimed in protest, and then he turned and looked at her, with an unmistakable expression in his eyes."

" No more do I," said Valda calmly, ignoring the glance. " I have offended you in some way un known ; you will not tell me how7 or when ; but that it is so I know as well as that I am sitting here. Mrs. Warren does not see it, and I see no reason for enlightening her, do you ? It would not matter in the least to Mrs. Warren, if it were so ; to me it does matter. It pains me very much, Miss Warren ; very much indeed." " Indeed," said Valda. " Why ? " He made a sudden movement towards her. " You know," he said, in a low, suppressed tone, which shook with some strong inward emotion. She moved nervously back. Her whole air underwent a sudden change. A tint of rose sprang up into her cheeks, her lips quivered, and the little diamond brooch in the soft silk tie she wore began to flash and send forth gleams of strange lights and colours as it rose and fell, to and fro.

The flush on his face deepened also ; his breath came quick and hard, and he also moved back, as if to put himself out of temptation's way. " Is it that — that — she is my cousin ? That she and I are friends ? " he asked, almost beneath his breath. " Does that annoy you ? " "Certainly not, Captain Atherley," replied Valda coldly ; all sign of emotion gone, and her eyes, with grave reproof in them, raised up to his. " Ah, but it is," he returned, unabashed. "You see that we are great friends, and you do not understand." She had grown a little pale ; but she smiled, and spoke in quite a gentle, reassuring tone. " Oh, yes, I understand," she said quietly. " I see what you thought now. You imagined that I thought that you were only friends, and — and that — well, that I did not approve. You are quite wrong, Captain Atherley.

I was not annoyed about anything. I did know. I have known for some time." " What have you known for some time ? " he enquired, in a low, curious tone, which she could not understand. " That you are going to marry her," said Valda, quite calmly. " Oh," he said quietly. " So you understand that ? " "Yes," with a cold little smile. "And pray do not think I mind, Captain Atherley. She is so young. It is very natural. I see that it is best so." " But supposing that such an arrange ment of affairs had never entered either of our heads ? " " I cannot suppose that. You see, I know better. Aline told me all about it," was the quiet reply. A sudden wTave of dark crimson rushed up into his face, and then slowly receded, leaving it a curious grey-white. A hard, stern expression entered his eyes, and his lips met beneath his moustache in a manner that spoke very plainly of one of those cold tempers which when once roused are both unpleasant and dangerous.

" You must have misunderstood Mrs. Warren," he said gravely. " Quite misunderstood her. He was quite startled by the proud, queenly gesture with which she drew up her tall, slight figure him. and looked up at "Do you mean to misunderstood you ? " low, cutting tone. imply that she has she enquired, in a If the situation had not been so grave, and of such vital personal importance, he could hardly have failed to see the ridiculous side of it. As it was he saw nothing ridiculous about it. Nothing in the world could possibly have happened which would have been half so awkward or so annoying. Besides he was most exceedingly angry. "No," he said coldly. "That is not possible. It must be you who have been mistaken." " I think not," said Valda calmly. " I know that you have been in love with her for years and years, and that you are engaged to her now.

And since I have assured you that I have no objection to Aline's marrying again, why trouble your self to try to deceive me about it ? " And all the time she knew quite well that it was not Aline with whom he was in love. Only she felt no pity, no mercy. In a matter of this kind there was but one straight course in her opinion. He had put his hand to the wheel, and she despised him for thus trying to turn it back again. She had one of those natures which are given to extremes. It was in her power to love very deeply, it was in her nature to be very soft and yielding ; but it was also in her nature to be extremely hard and cold. Such natures as hers must be so. They are often blamed for it, but it is their one stronghold of self-defence. Meanwhile Captain Atherley found him self in a remarkably awkward position.

He had asked her to give him this 'tete-a-tete because he had wished to tell her how he had learnt to love her, and now he found himself taken to task by her because he denied his engagement to another woman. " Of course there used to be something," he acknowledged, with evident confusion. " Yes," agreed Valda, " quite an old affair," and she actually succeeded in making him think that she was interested in it, and thought it rather romantic. " A very old affair," he replied quietly. " So old, that I had hoped it had been forgotten. For you are quite mistaken in thinking that Mrs. Warren and I are engaged now, Miss Warren." "These kind of mistakes are rather serious, Captain Atherley," was the sternly given reply. "Certainly," he agreed, "when they exist between those most concerned. In this instance I am thankful to say that that is not the case, as Mrs. Warren will explain to you, if you care to ask her."

And then, at last, looking up into his cold, set face, she realized the truth. It was not he, but Aline, who had so deceived her ! Never until that moment had she suspected how it was. Aline might be weak, frivolous, shallow, lacking sense, lacking, backbone, lacking many things ; but that she would deliberately tell a lie, and such a lie as this, had never before entered the head of this girl, to wdiom a lie was abhorrent. But if a he of any sort was abhorrent in Valda's sight, so was a man who could trifle with a woman's feelings, and then betray her, as Captain Atherley was now betraying Aline. Her deep sense of family pride ; her upright, honourable nature ; all revolted against it. She wras disgusted, miserable and exceedingly angry ; and in her anger she was disposed to be a little unjust.

" I must have dreamt that you were engaged," she said, in an icy tone. " Coming events cast their shadows before them, Captain Atherley. And really this shadow has grown so long, that one may be forgiven for having thus confused it with its substance." " Miss Warren " he began impetu ously ; but what more he might have said remained unknown, for Miss Warren had risen wThile she had been speaking, and now, wdth the air of an offended sovereign, she turned quickly away, and left the room. vol. ii. CHAPTER IH. I HATE HIM. " Be not like the stream that brawls Loud with shallow waterfalls, But in quiet self-control Link together soul and soul." — Longfellow. After she left Captain Atherley, Valda went very quietly upstairs to the schoolroom. To herself it seemed a long time since she had left it ; and yet in reality the time had not been long, for there sat little Dick and old Mary Just at the tea-table, in the middle of their tea.

Dick was jubilant in his delight over the fact that she had returned alone ; and eager with endless questions as to how she had contrived to send Captain Atherley away without his tea ; which in Dick's opinion was the one thing he must have come there that afternoon to get. Very quietly Valda stated that Captain Atherley had not wished for any tea ; and then succeeded in turning the subject. And it was a noticeable fact that old Mary Just did not ask any questions at all ; nor did she apparently take the smallest interest in the matter. On the contrary, she at once took up the fresh subject which Valda introduced, and with quite an unusual display of energy, twisted it about, turned it inside out, and never left it alone until she had worn it threadbare. Nor, some hours later on, when Dick had gone to bed, and Valda brought her embroidery into the schoolroom, did Miss Just ask how it was that, instead of the 20' cosy chat which they, as a rule, both so much enjoyed when thus they found them selves alone together, Valda sat silently looking into the fire, forgetting alike her embroidery and her old friend.

She knew that the girl was troubled ; and that she was busily occupied with her own thoughts. And Valda's old governess felt that she would almost prefer that those thoughts should not be put into wTords. She felt so certain she knew the drift of them ; and she would have given much to have been able to turn the current of them ere they drifted further. But since to attempt to do so would be the very way to hasten them on down-stream, Mary Just remained silent, and seemingh77 unobservant, as she had often done before. That something important had happened was certain ; Miss Just never doubted that. She had known from the moment Johnson had announced Captain Atherley's wish to see Miss Warren that something important would happen. But what could it be ? That Valda had been strangely attracted by the man, the old lady had divined very shortly after he had first appeared upon the scene nearly a year ago.